Semiconductor devices are used in a variety of electronic applications, such as personal computers, cell phones, digital cameras, and other electronic equipment, as examples. Semiconductor devices are typically fabricated by sequentially depositing insulating or dielectric layers, conductive layers, and semiconductive layers of material over a semiconductor substrate, and patterning or processing the substrate and/or the various material layers using lithography to form circuit components and elements thereon. Dozens or hundreds of integrated circuits are typically manufactured on a single semiconductor wafer. The individual dies are singulated by sawing the integrated circuits along a scribe line. The individual dies are then packaged separately, in multi-chip modules, in other types of packaging, or used directly in an end application, for example.
Integrated circuit dies are typically formed on a front side of semiconductor wafers. The integrated circuit dies may comprise various electronic components, such as transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, and other devices. The integrated circuit dies may comprise various functions, such as logic, memory, processors, and/or other functions.
Complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor (CIS) devices are semiconductor devices that are used in some cameras, cell phones, and other devices for capturing images. Back side illumination (BSI) image sensors are CIS devices in which light enters from a back side of a substrate, rather than a front side. BSI sensors are capable of capturing more of an image signal than front side illumination image sensors due to reduced reflection of light, in some applications.
Corresponding numerals and symbols in the different figures generally refer to corresponding parts unless otherwise indicated. The figures are drawn to clearly illustrate the relevant aspects of the embodiments and are not necessarily drawn to scale.